Forced Bonds

Chapter 35

Gotham City
June 8, 13:48 EDT

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"..."

"ne..."

"MR. WAYNE!"

Bruce is pulled from his thoughts when one of his board members shouts his name. He lifts his head and fixes the man with a tired stare. He can feel his eyes start to dry from having them open and a dull headache coming on. To be honest, Bruce looks like death. "I apologize," he says calmly. "I haven't been sleeping well lately."

The board members all looked at him in concern, impatience, and disdain. The playboy must've been up all night doing whatever it was Bruce Wayne does. As in, they all have there assumptions. The group doesn't dwell on the thought. "With all due respect, sir. Perhaps you should take the rest of the day off. We can finish up the matters here," a senior member suggests.

Bruce has already stopped paying attention and just continues to sit and stare at the table, a dark shadow crossing his features. The board members just stare for a moment before continuing on without him. He would interject if he had something to say, he always did.

That's how Bruce was the entire day. The CEO watched his secretary, Sarah, as she piles paper after paper on his desk, but he doesn't touch any of it. It doesn't take long for the secretary to notice.

As soon as their boss walked out of the board meeting, Sarah had cleared his schedule for the rest of the day. She has seen the looks on the board's faces and then seen Bruce, and knew what it meant. She knows that something is wrong, but doesn't dare ask what. Sarah is nice like that, and Alfred later sends her a fruit basket signed by Bruce.

And all-day, he just sat at his desk...

Thinking.

Dick.

What was he going to do? He was trying hard to be a good father, but every time he made a major decision about his ward's life, it would just make the boy even angrier. He couldn't possibly be doing something wrong?

Could he?...

No. This was all Joker's doing. He broke Dick, and they had to pick up the pieces of their bird's remaining sanity. That was it, that's what he's doing.

I'm doing nothing wrong...

SNAP.

Bruce looks down at the broken pen in his hands. He had been unconsciously fiddling with it, but now the ink pools in his palm and starts to stain his white shirt. Great, just great. Bruce's heads towards the bathroom, giving Sarah a tired smile as he passes.

"Heading out for the day, Mr. Wayne?"

"No, I just got to freshen up a bit," he replies. She purses her lips as he continues to walk away, thinking about how odd he is acting. What could possibly be keeping him from going home?

Water, soap, and ink mixed together to make a bubbly gray. He scrubs vigorously, but the ink seems to have set into his skin a lot faster than he had anticipated. He curses silently under his breath. He is so focused on getting the ink off, he doesn't notice as a white fog rolls out from underneath one of the stalls and dissipate around the room. The toilet flushes and a man walks out a moment later, suitcase in hand.

"Mr. Wayne! What a pleasant surprise!"

Bruce looks up at the blonde man with an irritated expression before changing it to that of his reputation before the man can notice. "I'm honored, but I'm sorry, do I know you?"

The man waves his hand in front of him before heading to the sink, expressively denying Bruce. "No no no no no. I just got done presenting my product to your board."